Sunday, 20 June 2010

After showing the vertically designed woodblock prints in Part 1, here are all pictures of horizontally designed prints I have found sofar. Please help me if you know of any others, correct titles and add year of make if you happen to know these details. I cannot imagine to present a complete oversight. I am but a humble enthousiast without and any scolarly intentions.

To my knowledge there is no book covering the life and art of the "Master of Color, Light and Design. Very popular and appreciated once, collected, and presented in many museums, forgotten later and a new interest and revival after 1980. I learned a lot reading this very informative article by Cindy Nickerson: http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/7aa/7aa4.htm.

The purpose of this posting is to bring together the flower woodblock-prints for personal reference, recollection und fun. Without any further pretensions.

Poppies.

I learned that "White Dogwood" was the last print Margaret was working on at the time of her death in 1950. I have no idea of any chronology in all the other prints. Just one is dated: foxgloves, 1921. This Part 1 will show the vertically designed prints, Part 2 will show the horizontal designs. Just for page make-up reasons.

L: Zinnias, R: Hollyhocks

L: Summerflowers. L: the White Rose

L: Unknown. L: Zinnias

L: Morning Glories. R: Foxgloves, 1921

Compare the 3 prints with a black background with earlier posted flower prints by John Hall Thorpe and Thomas Todd Blaylock.

Looking for and bying old frames in fleamarkets for my rematting and framing enterprise I picked up a very neat square frame with a nice calanderplate. On the backside was an old artdealers and framingshop label from the Haque (Netherlands)After removing the backing board this nice handpulled print came out, some pencil signing was hidden under the frame because there was no mat. I count 7 well preserved colors, 3 browns, 2 greens, red and gray.

I cannot make out what was written also because the lower part seems to have been cut of. A name, or something ending "print" ?

Saturday, 19 June 2010

A fleamarket found woodblock "Handdruk" (handpulled) print titled Snowey Barn, signed Wim Weverling '27. In its original frame.

Such old prints really becoming more decorative rematted with a happy color. Hard to imagine some-one throwing it out and I am to find it on rainy-day fleamarket visit, really making my day. I wished my cutting skills were up to William's . Investigating the www. turned up nothing about my Wim Weverling. Nada.Well, just these 4 very attractive and rather wonderfull prints by Weverling's hand. They are really shouting Pablo, arent they ? What happened with Wim between the days of his classic "Snowey Barn" with a touch of van Gogh night sky to these very expressive modernistic pictures. 1927 - 1945 ?

Undoubtedly designed as a set. One is signed 7/10, 1945. Offered by a bigcity Book and Printdealer. If it was just one, but now I know them I would go for all four. Way too expensive !

Roaming the Internet, trying to learn and take max. advantage of the infinite possibilities, occasionally you come across some unexpected finds. Flower woodblock-prints from the Arts and Crafts period have my deepest interest. Just read my earlier posts.

Within the genre I like most the "simple" renderings with the very Western black keyblock's surrounding line.

And then one day you find an artist that explored this artform, made some pretty wonderfull and amazingly delicate prints and then seems to have left it alltogether to become very famous in a totally other medium. Ofcourse Hugh Wallis is best remembered as the most wonderfull English Arts and Crafts coppersmith.

Besides Gustave Baumann (1881-1971), whoms work (without even looking at his pictures) is easilly recognizable by the very distinctive border-design (dots), Hugh Wallis is the only printer who comes to my mind designing the outer margins of the print, matching and integrated in the design. Framing his composition indiviually. It works great with the square design which he seems to have sticked to (like William Nicholson did)

They look deceptively simple, amateurish even. They aren't. Here is a very talented, selfconfident and very original printing artist. Why he left woodblock printing to become an even more famous and recognized leading Arts and Crafts coppersmith .....................?

Just and only 4 I found to this day. Hugh' Wallis's prints rarely turn up at auctions in England but helas; they are above my financial possibilities. On one ocasion the cataloque describing the items as "possibly embroidery patterns". Some-one knew better, they were sold at rare woodblock-print prices. Imagine this: having grandma's embroidery framed and throwing away the "design".

Having discovered and knowing them, not able ever to forget them, is a real privilege.

A collection of his flower woodblock printings. Pictures collected from museum, auctionhouse and gallery cataloques. His art, most of his prints published in the 1920's, very similar in style and execution to Hall Thorpe's. It is not ment to be complete, put together for recollection purpouses only. Maybe you can help sending me others, if they exist.

Added june 2013: This print is definitely NOT created by J.Pz. Franken !

Any suggestions by readers to the artist (there are some white-line characteristics) are welcomed.

It is probably Dutch, maybe German, in origin.

I try limitting myself collecting woodblock and linocut flowerpieces but often I stumble upon these unforgettable impressions. I find them irresistable. And when the price is right, the flesh is weak. It's Dutch fishermen-tradition at its best. Almost symbolic, very international and recognizable in every fishing community around the globe.
At first it reminded me of a whiteline print. But Provincetown art in the Lowlands ? Staring at the signature I puzzled: "8 15 J.. Fr....en v ss s".The last word not a signature but the title. Probably "Vissers" (Fishermen). I just love these puzzles. It took me 15 well spend minutes to find a fitting candidate with Google.

J. Pzn. Franken was educated in the Royal (Dutch) Academy of Figurative Art in his native the Haque. He became a well respected artist, his works are in Museums and private collection and there is even a privately limited (200) edition book on his woodblock print art.

A fine sketcher and drawer as you can see in this "view on Veere" (Zeeland) from 1936.

And a fine portrait artist.

A gifted painter.

At Christies these wonderfull soft colored"Pink and purple carnations"and "Hortensias" (oils on paper) were auctioned and changed ownership some years ago.

Likewise did this this very Art Deco "Veiled Nude".

And how contrasting in style with the delicate veiled nude is to find this painting titled: "Lebedame". The German language so very obliging. In French: "la demi-mondaine". Or elegant hooker.

And woodblock-printer.

Examples of J. Pzn. Franken's woodcarving and printing skills. Notice all the action that is going on in this village view. The axman in the tree, the people on the ground and the ships in the canal. The spectacular perspective and Notan forcing and leading the eye to move around the scene in a big swirl.And book-illustrator.

"Old Harbour" (unsigned but impression JFPz lower left)

and historical portraits

A man of many Talents

(an if it hadn't been for the Fishermen, J. Pzn. Francken probably never to come to my attention )